


XO Vamp Life

by Wavvy



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Jenny Everywhere, My Immortal
Genre: Artistic Liberties, Awkwardness, Breakfast, Comedy, Comfort, Concerts, Crying, Deviates From Canon, Drinking, Emotional, England (Country), F/M, Fake Out, Fantasy, Female Characters, Female Friendship, First Meetings, Fix-It, Flirting, Friendly banter, Friendship, Gothic, Goths, Heterosexuality, High School, Humor, I thought this was going to be a joke but it became serious frighteningly fast, Love, Magic, Misunderstandings, Modern Fantasy, More tags to be added, Oblivious Draco Malfoy, On Hiatus, Out of Character, Out of Character Draco Malfoy, Out of Character Harry Potter, POV Female Character, POV First Person, Pining, Plot, Possibly Unrequited Love, Prophetic Visions, Read the notes for some disclaimers, Remix, Romance, School, Supernatural Elements, Teasing, Teen Romance, Teenagers, Things get a little hot and heavy between two teenagers but it all stays PG-13 I promise, Time Travel, Underage Flirting, Underage Kissing, Unrequited Crush, Unrequited Love, Urban Fantasy, Witches, Wizards, Work In Progress, for both Harry Potter and the Original My Immortal, relationships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-24
Updated: 2021-02-21
Packaged: 2021-03-16 12:00:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 18,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28956117
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wavvy/pseuds/Wavvy
Summary: Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way isn't asking for much. All she wants is to safely get through her last year at Hogwarts, destroy all of the prep kids there, and win the eternal undying love of her soulmate - Draco Malfoy - who barely knows she exists. Unfortunately, the world has it out for her and these goals may not be as easy as they seem. Along the way she'll face many formidable challenges including (but not limited to): another hottie trying to work his way into her heart, a repulsively cheery prep kid and her pair of oddball friends, and a mysterious dark force more threatening than anything she's ever seen. Will Ebony succeed in her ultimate quest for Draco's heart? Or will she be forever exiled to the friendzone? Only time will tell.Jenny Everywhere also somehow gets herself tangled up in all this.A fix-it/remix fic of 'My Immortal' with some plot changes, new scenes, and a few of my own characters sprinkled in.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way, Harry Potter/Ebony Dark'ness Dementia Raven Way
Comments: 10
Kudos: 4





	1. Introduction

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, just want to pop in and give some quick messages before the story begins:
> 
> To my Subscribers/returning readers: Hi there, I write fanfiction now! I wanted to step out of my comfort zone and spice things up, and this is the idea I ended up settling on. Don't worry, I haven't given up on my usual brand of content (not by a longshot), I'm just writing this stuff now too. And as I said in the summary, some characters from my original stories on this account will show up, so if you're looking for something with them, stick around and you might be pleasantly surprised.
> 
> To the Harry Potter Fans/new readers: Hi there, I write fanfiction now! As we all know, the original My Immortal took some artistic liberties with A LOT of things in Harry Potter. Since I used that as my blueprint, I have done the same thing, so expect a lot of characters and concepts to be substantially different from the original. Also, this is my first fanfic so please be gentle with my fragile soul.
> 
> To the Jenny Everywhere Fans: Glad to hear I'm not the only one lmao.
> 
> Now on with the words.

Even all these years later, I still remember that day. That fateful day, when the course of my life was irreversibly and irrevocably changed. When a singular event started the chain of dominoes that would eventually lead to utter, uncontrolled chaos. It was an event that divided my life into two parts (pre-event and post-event, obviously.) Every time I think back on the sometimes literal sometimes figurative death and destruction I faced in my final year of Hogwarts, I always pinpoint this event as the moment the end of it all began.

It was a mid-December afternoon, and snowflakes had been sprinkling down from the cloudy, gray sky since the previous night. All of the outdoor fields had been covered in a pristine layer of snow. 

With the blocked out sun and the altered landscape, I decided it was the perfect day for a walk. So I’d thrown on some jeans and a leather jacket (both black, of course, because I’m gothic), and set out to do a loop around the castle, just like I always did. It was the perfect way to turn off my brain for a little while, get some fresh air, and just decompress.

I was just passing the owlery (and giving the middle finger to some dumb preps who were staring at me (because fuck preps and their stupid, dumb, meaningless preppy lives)), when I heard a voice call out my name.

“Hey Ebony!”

I whipped my head around to face the source of the voice.

And there he was, standing in the snow, glowing like an angel in the flesh. 

The bright light of the sun shone through his slicked back blond hair. His dark green winter coat made his pale, well-sculpted face look like an ancient greek statue. Even with about ten feet of distance between us, I could see his striking green eyes. The raw intensity of them made me dizzy where I stood.

It was Draco Malfoy, the most gorgeous human being ever to live, and he’d just said  _ hi _ to me.

A million and one emotions fluttered around in my chest. Feeling lightheaded, I raised a hand and waved weakly back at him. “Hi...hi Draco,” I giggled, unable to hold back a dumb, toothy smile. “Uh...how...how’s...uh...what’s...uh...What’s gucci?”  _ What’s gucci? _ Who the fuck says that? I internally cursed myself for being such a dumbass. I was just too paralyzed by his beauty to think straight.

“Uh...nothing really, I just wanted to say hi,” he said with an uninterested shrug, “So...hi.” Draco punctuated the greeting with an awkward smile, and then turned to walk away, leaving me standing out there breathlessly in the cold.

“Hi Draco,” I repeated under my breath, watching him walk off with the most longing look I could muster.

From that moment on, nothing would, or even could, ever be the same again.

My name is Ebony Dark’ness Dementia Raven Way, and this is the story of my rise and fall.


	2. The Pensieve

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now, the lines of text you've all been waiting for:
> 
> The character of Jenny Everywhere is available for use by anyone, with only one condition: This paragraph must be included in any publication involving Jenny Everywhere, that others might use this property as they wish. All rights reversed.

I hadn’t told a soul about the once-in-a-lifetime interaction I’d had with Draco (because, as everyone knows, you’re not supposed to tell people about magical romantic moments like those), but evidently it hadn’t been as secret as I’d hoped for. By the next morning, word had already gotten out.

Things had started out normally enough. At the sound of my alarm clock, I groaned and flipped open the lid of my pink velvet-lined coffin to deal with it. Stepping out of my bed, I took a moment to admire the snow falling through the window before getting myself dressed. I pulled off the oversized My Chemical Romance T-shirt I used for pajamas and changed into my uniform.

Hogwarts’ uniforms were pretty boring and cringe. The only remotely interesting thing about mine was the sharp green inner lining of the black robe, and my matching green tie, both of which signified my allegiance to the Slytherin house. To add a little personal touch to the uniform, I put on my pentagram necklace and wore my combat boots underneath the robe. Feeling particularly fancy, I also put on a coat of red eyeliner to match the streaks dyed into my black hair, and grabbed my backpack.

As usual, Willow Chaos Destruction Lyme-Disease Lee (my BFF) was waiting for me in the Slytherin common room. Her raven black hair (with pink streaks) was long enough to reach her waist, and her forest green eyes (framed with matching pink eyeliner) were alight with amusement. As we walked out of the common room and into the hallway, the smile on her small, round face grew bigger and bigger until whatever was making her so happy grew too big to contain.

“OMFG, I saw you talking with Draco Malfoy yesterday!” She cut right to the chase, skipping over anything even resembling a greeting. 

Immediately, a blush brought some color to my pale face, “Uh...y-yeah...so?” I asked, failing disastrously at sounding apathetic.

“Do you  _ like _ Draco?” She pestered.

“No, I so fucking don’t!” I retorted defensively, turning away from her so she wouldn’t see the truth in my eyes.

To no surprise, she was unconvinced. “Yeah, right!” She taunted sarcastically, “Are you  _ sure _ about that Ebony?”

Just then, we turned a corner and entered the Great Hall. Like most mornings, it was packed from wall to wall with students. Each of the four long tables were covered with various dishes prepared by the house elves. As I stepped into the room, a million and one delicious smells wafted over my nose buds (that’s what they’re called, right? Like...taste buds, but for your nose? You know what I’m talking about.) and intensified my appetite.

Trying to buy some time, I took a minute to search for a seat at the Slytherin table, eventually finding one right towards the middle. Throwing myself into a chair, I wasted no time pouring myself a bowl of Count Chocula, and a glass of blood. I shoveled the dry cereal into my mouth and crunched loudly.

Keeping her face contorted into its smug shape, Willow took the seat right next to me, and filled her plate with a stack of pancakes. Rather than drink it, she drizzled her glass of blood over the pancakes like syrup.

“Isn’t it so convenient that they just give vampires blood here?” I asked, sipping from my glass and savoring the taste of the red liquid. “It’s so much easier than having to hunt for it ourselves.”

“Stop trying to change the topic, Ebony,” Willow replied through a mouthful of pancake, “You didn’t answer my question. Are you  _ sure _ you don’t like Draco Malfoy?”

My face dropped and I rolled my eyes. “Yes, I’m positive. He’s just cute, it’s not like I, like,  _ like _ like him or anything.”

“Just cute?” Willow questioned, “Does that explain why you have a sketchbook full of…”

“Shut up!” I interrupted in a hushed voice, glaring daggers at her. “Don’t you  _ dare _ talk about the sketchbook!” Leaning in toward her, I lowered my voice and whispered through gritted teeth, “Okay, if it’ll shut you up, then  _ perhaps _ it’s not impossible that I might  _ maybe _ potentially see him as something more than a friend. Happy?”

Willow didn’t say a word, but I could tell from the grin on her face and the twinkle in her eye that she was, indeed, very happy with this revelation. 

“Well, that’s pretty lucky then,” she said after a moment, “Because he seems to really like you.”

“Well...I mean...I don’t know about that...” I said hesitantly, eating another spoonful of Count Chocula, “He  _ might _ . I mean, he wouldn’t say hi to me if he  _ didn’t _ , right?”

“Are you going to ask him out?”

My eyes widened, and I nearly choked on my cereal. After pounding my chest and downing the rest of my blood, I gasped for air and gave Willow an incredulous look.

“Are you  _ crazy _ ?” I asked in the loudest hushed voice I could make.

“What? It’s what you do when you like someone and you think they like you back,” Willow had a look of genuine confusion in her eyes, as if she legitimately couldn’t see just how ludicrous her idea was.

“This conversation is over,” I said, turning back to my food.

“But…”

“It’s  _ over _ ,” I reiterated.

The rest of breakfast was spent with silence between us. After a few minutes of that, we were both done, and it was time to get to classes.

“So, what class do you have now?” I asked as we brought our dishes over to the shelf set out in the corner of the hall.

“Well, it’s Friday, so I have transfiguration!” Willow responded cheerily, “It’s a lot of work, but lately it’s been really interesting. We just started learning about changing fairy cakes into fairies. It’s really fun! Though there have been a lot of half-fairy half-cake abominations, which are annoying. They scream really loud.” She shuddered as she said this, clearly recalling some grim memories.

“That sounds cool,” I replied, “You’re lucky, I just have Divination,” I sighed and shook my head, “Gods, that class is so boring. I don’t know why I took it in the first place.”

“I mean, it can’t be worse than Arithmancy,” Willow offered, trying to cheer me up. “B’loody Mary has that and she says it’s way more awful than you’d expect.”

“That is true,” I reluctantly conceded.

The two of us set our dishes down and then turned around towards the exit. In front of us, the hallways were starting to fill with students heading to their first classes.

“Well, I guess I’ll see you later then,” Willow said with a wave. Without waiting for a response, she turned away from me, and headed down the hallway.

“Yeah, see you later,” I muttered, more to myself than her, before shouldering my bag and heading down the hall to my first class of the day.

\---

Just entering the Divination classroom was a chore. Divination stood out from other classes by taking place in the attic of the appropriately named Divination Tower instead of a normal, functional classroom. Apparently the attic had a ‘special energy’ to it or something.

With how long it took me to stroll from the Great Hall to the very top of the Tower, I’d assumed everyone would have been settled and class would have started. But when I finally arrived at the top of the staircase, a mob of students were crowded around the tiny step-ladder leading to the trap door in the ceiling. I groaned and rolled my eyes. Half the fucking class must have been there.

The door was only big enough for students to enter one at a time, so, having come last, I had to wait until everyone else had entered to go in myself, which felt like an eternity. Once there was a clear enough path, I grabbed the edges of the door to balance, and gradually made my way up through.

As usual, the classroom was utterly unpleasant to be in. Red curtains were draped over each of the windows, blocking out all of the sunlight that would be shining through. The classroom’s primary source of lighting was a series of gas lamps scattered across the students’ tables, each wrapped in a red scarf. This meant that the entire room was covered in a dim, red glow, far too dark to take proper notes in. The candles also generated an uncomfortable amount of heat, which made the room unbearably stuffy. In the center of the room, a fire was burning in a mantle underneath a boiling pot, spreading a strong perfume-like odor across the entire room and making matters even worse.

Instead of desks, students were seated at a series of round tables, each accompanied by a pair of chintz armchairs. To the side, the room was lined with shelves containing odd artifacts and knick-knacks. Packs of tarot cards, crystal balls, and burned out candles were among the objects displayed on the dusty shelf.

Already sweating from the warmth, I side-stepped through the occupied chairs to make my way to my assigned seat towards the left end of the room. When I finally reached it, I noticed that my partner was already sitting there. My face fell.

“Good morning Ebony!” She announced with a bright smile, “So nice to see you today!”

“Good morning Britney,” I replied through gritted teeth, refusing to look her in the eye. Growing tense with frustration, I plopped myself down in the armchair and opened up my backpack to retrieve my quill and notebook. All the while, I tried my hardest to not even look at my partner.

Britney had to be the preppiest prep to ever prep. Everything about her from her bright blue eyes, to her perfectly groomed brown hair, to the dumb smile constantly displayed on her face was so pretty and fake and lame. I hated her so much.

“How’s it going? You’re looking as bright and sunny as usual,” She said in a dumb, friendly tone that was obviously mocking me.

“I’m fine,” I said in a clipped voice, wanting nothing more than for her to shut up.

“That’s great!” She beamed, not at all taking the hint, “I’m doing pretty good myself. I’ve just been reviewing a lot for our finals lately. I want to get a head start on these things to avoid the rush, you know?”

Gods above, I hated her _so_ much.

Luckily for me, the professor chose that moment to begin the class. From the front of the room, she got up from her armchair and cleared her throat to gather everyone’s attention.

“Good morning everyone! Since everyone’s here by now, I think it’s time to begin.”

“Good morning Professor Everywhere,” the class monotonously drawled back at her.

Professor Everywhere was exactly what one would expect from a Divination teacher. Her fashion sense seemed to be limited solely to standard looking dress suits in various shades of gray or black. Every so often, she would mix things up a bit and wear a striped yellow and black scarf (today was one such day). Her sandstone colored skin was just the right shade to blend into the walls behind her, making her more like a shadow than a person. The only thing about her that didn’t threaten to vanish in the low lighting was the short, messy mop of brown hair on her head that perpetually gave her the look of having just landed from a speedy broomstick flight. It was an unusually excited hairstyle for such a boring, composed woman.

“I’m happy to see you all here,” she said with a small smile, gazing around at the class, “We’ve got a lot to go through today, so let’s get things started without any further ado. Who can summarize for me what we were going over last time?”

A series of hands went up, mine not included. Professor Everywhere picked a Hufflepuff student from the back of the classroom.

“We were talking about the idea of time travel,” he said brightly, “And whether or not it’s possible.”

“Good, two points to Hufflepuff,” chimed the Professor, “And what was the verdict on that?”

Another forest of hands went up. This time it was Britney who spoke (because of course she knew every goddamn thing). “We said that yes it was, and there are a bunch of ways to do it. There are spells such as time reversal charms, but they require lots of magical energy and mastery to use. To make it easier, there are physical objects that can be used, like Time Turners and Pensieves.”

“Also very good, two points to Gryffindor,” Professor Everywhere quickly replied. “As I’m sure you remember, the Time Turner is a very simple mechanism. As the name implies, all you have to do is turn the dials on it,” she mimed the motions with her hands to illustrate, “And it will take you right where you want to go. One turn for each hour you wish to go back. Now, who can think of some limitations to this device?”

Since this question was a venture into new territory, the hands that raised in response to it were much fewer in number and had less enthusiasm than before. When the Professor called on a meek looking Slytherin student in the back of the class, she spoke with much less confidence than Britney.

“Well...it can only travel over a small distance of time, right? It would require a lot of turns if you wanted to go back, say, a few years into the past, or even further.”

“Fantastic, three points to Slytherin,” Professor Everywhere responded as if this was the most clever thing that had ever been spoken in her class. “Yes, the Time Turner is very limited in that regard. I will add that it’s also limited in terms of distance. The Time Turner will take you back in time, but the user is stuck in the place they’re using it. If you want to travel through time and space simultaneously, you’ll need something else. Which brings us to the subject of this class.”

Folding up her sleeves, the Professor’s wand appeared in her hand out of nowhere. She flicked it at the table in front of her and, in the blink of an eye, a large, smooth metal bowl appeared on the table. With another flick, the bowl was filled with a thick, glowing liquid.

“This is the Pensieve,” she announced dramatically, gesturing towards it with a bit of flair. “If you want more expansive time travel, you’ll want to own one of these.”

She gave the class a few seconds to observe it, before shuffling behind it to continue. Realizing I’d trailed off on my note-taking, I tore my eyes off of the object, and turned back to my notebook, hastily writing down everything I could remember about the disadvantages of the Time Turners.

“Think of the Pensieve as a kind of reverse crystal ball combined with a more powerful Time Turner,” she explained, gazing around at the class to make sure everyone was paying attention, “You can gaze into any moment of the past that you can think of, and, with the right spell, travel there.”

To illustrate, she stirred her wand around in the liquid, and an image started to appear in it. It was vague and formless at first, but after a few seconds, an overhead shot of a previous Divination class became clear to us. Just as quickly, it dissipated back into a series of indiscernable blobs.

“The Pensieve, as a mechanism for time travel, has many advantages,” Professor Everywhere explained, “For starters, the distance you can leap is limited only by your imagination. Any area of time you can conceive, it can take you to,” as she said this, a series of clear images flashed in the basin, each presumably showing a different time period. They moved too fast to properly see, but the ones I did notice included a pack of cavemen in the stone age, a group of fancily dressed women in the victorian era, and a stereotypical nuclear family from what looked to be the 1950s. “In addition to that, it also provides a great way to return to the time of origin, meaning that traveling back and forth couldn’t be easier.”

Several noises of intrigue echoed throughout the room, and even I had to admit that there was something interesting about this. “Wow,” I murmured to myself. Across the table, I could hear Britney have a similar reaction.

“However,” the Professor said, pulling her wand out of the ooze and letting the images dissipate. “Like everything magical, there are limitations. Of course, being based on the imagination of the user means it’s also limited to times and places they can conceive of. You have to have a pretty exact idea of where you’re going in order to get anywhere. Also, perhaps more importantly...”

For the next one, the smile suddenly fell off of Professor Everywhere’s face, and a gravely serious expression replaced it. “...traveling far back into the past is a dangerous game. Even the most minor changes have consequences, and if one isn’t careful, they may find themselves returning to a very different world than they left. I’m sure you’re all familiar with the butterfly effect, yes? Even the smallest change in the past can alter the course of events enough to make the world completely unrecognizable to them. The further back one goes, the higher this risk is. For this reason, anything enabling time travel is closely monitored by the Ministry of Magic, and the use of a Pensieve for this purpose is all but banned.”

With a silent wave of her wand, the Pensieve disappeared. I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. Around the room, I could hear the rest of the class do the same. I hadn’t been expecting that to get so tense.

While everyone recomposed themselves, a single hand was raised in the back of the room by another student in Hufflepuff that I didn’t recognize. “What do you mean by ‘all but banned?’” she asked when called on, “Are there specific circumstances where it  _ is _ used?”

The Professor raised her eyebrows at this question, and a look of surprise flickered in her eyes. For the first time during that class, she seemed taken off guard. “Well,” she started, after hesitating for a moment, “Time traveling through a Pensieve is used as a last resort. When there’s a situation so dire, that no other alternatives exist. When all the associated risks become worth it. Most of the time, these are situations where a powerful dark wizard has done something time travel related that needs to be fixed, or when an apocalyptic event needs to be prevented. Thankfully, this need has only arisen a handful of times in the modern era.”

The class all nodded silently, either taking notes or staring into space, absorbing everything the Professor had said.

Professor Everywhere spent the rest of the lesson talking about the space-time continuum and junk like that. The stakes to this were a lot lower than what she’d been saying earlier about the Pensieve, so I tuned in and out to what she was saying. Before I knew it, the class was over, and students were standing up and stuffing their things back in their bags.

“Good work today everyone!” Professor Everywhere called out over the noise, “Your only homework is to start reviewing! Meet up with your partner before next week and go over some of what we've learned this past semester!”

A wave of dread washed over me.  _ Seriously? _ The last thing I wanted to do was talk with Britney any more than I had to. I had to close my eyes and take a deep breath to avoid expressing the frustration boiling up within me. Knowing she would follow, I opened my eyes and darted toward the trap door, crawling down the ladder to beat the rest of the crowd.

Sure enough, when I was about halfway down the hallway, I heard the sound of someone jogging towards me.

“Hey! Ebony! Wait up!” Britney’s voice called out from behind me.

Again groaning to myself, I stopped in place, and turned around just as she was approaching me. When she stopped, she leaned against the wall and took a second to catch her breath.

“Hi!” She eventually said.

“Hi,” I replied unenthusiastically, “So, we need to meet up, don’t we?”

“Yep!” She chirped, straightening herself up. She snapped her fingers and a small planner materialized in her hands. Taking the pen out of its spine, she cracked it open, and flipped through the pages. “How does Monday evening sound? At around 5pm? We can meet by the entrance of the library and then go find a place to sit from there.”

“Uh...sure,” I said non-committedly, unable to think of an excuse, “Sounds fine.”

The smile on Britney’s face got wider (if that was even possible) and she slammed her notebook shut. “It’s a date then! I’ll see you around!” Without waiting for a reply, she turned away from me and, no exaggeration, skipped down the rest of the hallway, humming something to herself.

“Yeah, I’ll see you,” I mumbled, watching her go off.

Ugh.


	3. The Near-Miss

My next class was Charms, which, thankfully, took place in a much more sane location. It was just a regular classroom located in the appropriately named Charms Corridor on the third floor. 

I’m telling you, I don’t know what they paid the guy who named all these things, but it wasn’t enough.

Rushing around the corner of the corridor, I speed-walked through the large crowd swamping the hallway, darting in-between them to make my way to the classroom door. Getting in and out of the Divination classroom had sapped all my patience for the day, so I was a woman on a mission as I made my way to the entrance. My determination paid off, as I was among the first students to push into the classroom. It was the small things in life, you know?

Charms was one of the more practical subjects in Hogwarts, and the classroom was designed to reflect that. It was double the size of most and split off into two sections. 

To the left, there were three rows of desks for students facing the teacher’s desk, behind which was a large red leather chair. A pair of blackboards flanked the professor’s workstation at the front of the room for use during more theory-centric lessons.

The right side of the room was for more practical classes. The space was big enough to let the entire class stand up and have room to cast whatever spell was being practiced that day. It was mostly kept empty, but some desks and shelves filled with various odd items were pushed to the side, kept on standby in case they were needed for practice.

As quickly as I could, I darted over to my seat right in the center of the back row of desks. Rather than take my things out, I simply put my bag on the floor and intently focused on a seat to my left in the row in front of me. This was my favorite seat in the entire classroom. It was empty now, but I was patient. He was usually a little late.

A few moments later, he finally arrived. Stepping through the doorway, he looked like moonlight personified with his shining skin and wispy blond hair. The bright green colors of his tie and the Slytherin patch on his breast perfectly matched the intensity of his eyes.

It was Draco Malfoy.

My heart did backflips in my chest as he walked across the room, his face wearing a slightly tired, absent-minded expression as he did. Even though I couldn’t hope to comprehend the beautiful inner workings of his mind, I couldn’t help but contemplate what he might be thinking. Had his previous class been particularly boring? Had it been stressful? Was he having family issues? Problems with his friends? I wondered if it was something I could help him with. Oh, I would have _killed_ for an opportunity to help him like that.

As discreetly as I could, I kept my eyes glued to him as he crossed the classroom and made his way over to his seat. As he turned around to move his chair, his eyes caught mine.

My heart stopped, and my chest became a bottomless abyss.

“Oh, hi there Ebony,” he greeted, his voice sounding like the sweetest serenade to ever exist.

My mind, body, and soul all simultaneously froze. In the dark depths of my mind, only a singular thought was allowed to form itself. Too terrified to properly sort things out, the thought was allowed to pass right through my mouth before I could stop it.

“Uh...h...hi D-Draco,” I replied with another absolutely dimwitted smile, “What's...uh...uh...what’s...cr-crackalackin?” To emphasize the greeting, I pointed at him with the weakest finger guns ever witnessed by man and gave him a tiny wink.

Though I kept a lopsided smile on my face, my entire soul screamed out in agony as soon as the phrase was spoken. _What’s crackalackin?_ Was that _really_ what I’d said? Why the _fuck_ did I say that? Why would any sane human being even think of saying that? A dark shade of humiliation filled my entire being.

A look of confusion passed through Draco’s brilliant eyes, but he smiled nonetheless. “You say the funniest things, you know that?”

My eyes widened, and panic clutched at my heart. He thought I was funny. He thought I was _funny_ ! What did that mean? Was he laughing _at_ me, or laughing _with_ me? Did he _like_ that I was funny? Was he making fun of me? The ideas surged through my mind at a million miles an hour, leaving my mouth struggling to catch up. 

“Uh...uh...uh…” I gaped, “Thank…you?”

Seeming to notice the uncertainty in my eyes, Draco chuckled to himself and elaborated. “Oh, don’t worry, that was meant to be a compliment. I’m sorry.”

A compliment? My brain fried at the idea. I tried to spit out another thank you, but before I could, the teacher’s voice sounded from the front of the classroom.

“Good morning everyone!”

Draco smirked and winked at me, before turning around to face the professor. Stunned into silence, I gulped and turned my attention there as well.

The Charms teacher’s official title was Professor Higgins, but she insisted everyone called her by her first name: Cherry. During the first class of the semester, she’d explained that it was because she wanted us to feel like her ‘equal’ or something like that. She was one of _those_ kinds of teachers.

Cherry was a big woman, both in physique and demeanor. She was tall and portly with a fierce mane of fiery red hair flowing from her scalp. It was always tied up in a ponytail that did very little to contain its wild curls. Cherry’s round, freckled face was always decorated with a wide smile and a sense of gleeful excitement in her eyes, and this morning was no exception.

Her sense of fashion also had a feeling of enthusiasm to it, though I’m sure it was subdued by the Hogwarts teacher dress code. Today she was wearing a white blouse, a bright blue skirt, and a pair of sneakers. Accompanying the blouse was some kind of red brooch that I couldn’t make out from this distance.

“So...hello,” Cherry continued in her bright voice, “How are we all doing today?”

The class’ answer ended up sounding quite muddled as twenty four students all answered at the same time. Though details were impossible to distinguish, numerous variations of ‘fine,’ ‘alright,’ and ‘good’ could be clearly made out.

“I’m happy to hear that,” Cherry responded once everyone had quieted down, “I hope you’re all feeling confident about the N.E.W.Ts coming up. I promise if you’ve been reviewing as I’ve instructed you, you’ll have nothing to worry about.” 

As she finished the announcement, there was a change in her expression. Her smile grew wider, her eyes grew brighter, and her entire demeanor perked up slightly. When she next spoke, she’d shifted from her ‘professional bemusement’ voice to a more natural excitement. “Well, we’ve got another practical lesson today, so everyone take out your wands and follow me.”

Without waiting for a response, Cherry started to cross over to the other side of the room with a bounce in her step. The classroom was filled with mild clamor as every student in the room hustled to fish their wand out of their bags and follow the Professor. 

Hastily, I reached into my own backpack and procured my own: a nine-inch oak with a dragon heartstring core. I knew it symbolized something about my personality, but I couldn’t remember what anymore.

Cherry took her position in the center of the empty half of the room and waited for everyone else to crowd around her before beginning. Once all of the students had clustered themselves in a loose semi-circle around her, she continued on.

“Today’s practice spell is taken from the reading assignment you were given last week,” As she spoke, she absentmindedly flicked her wand, causing a table with a glass goblet on it to materialize out of thin air. “Your task today is to transform vinegar…” she tapped the edge of the goblet, and it was filled to the brim with a clear, strong-smelling liquid, “...into wine,” she tapped the glass again, and, with a faint simmering noise, the liquid shifted until it was a deep crimson color.

 _Uh oh_. Thick feelings of trepidation started to bubble up in my stomach. The series of quiet grumbles that could be heard around the room let me know that I wasn’t alone with my feelings.

Of all the Charms in the world, why did it have to be _this_ one?

“Now, I know the things people say about this spell,” Cherry added with a sly smile, picking up on our reactions, “Its reputation as one of the more complex spells taught in this class is well deserved, I won’t deny that. However, it becomes much more doable with a proper understanding of what it involves. Who here is clever enough to tell me what’s actually happening here? On a chemical level, that is,” As she asked the question, Cherry gazed around at the class, eager to find the student who could come up with an answer.

The crowd was quiet at first, but after a few seconds, a hand went up. Glancing to my left, I gasped when I saw that it was Draco.

“Yes, Draco?”

“It’s fermentation,” He responded, “As in...wine can be turned into vinegar when it’s fermented. So, by reversing that process, the vinegar changes back into wine.”

“Very good!” Cherry exclaimed with a snap of her fingers, “Five points to Slytherin! Yes, although it’s most commonly known as the vinegar-to-wine charm, the proper term for this spell is the Reverse Fermentation Charm, a name you’ll all benefit to remember. Spells involving chemical alteration in general have a plethora of uses. Believe it or not, this is one of the simpler of those, so it’s good to start with.”

I nodded, trying to keep my focus from drifting. The weight in my stomach was getting heavier by the second. This wasn’t going to be fun at all. I could already imagine all the ways I was going to mess this one up.

“The trick to it is proper mental visualization,” Cherry continued. Without looking, she tapped the tip of the glass and the liquid became clear once more. “Fermentation is a process of both time and nature, so the caster needs to take both aspects into account in order to successfully make use of the spell. It doesn’t take much power, but a very precise use of power.”

She trailed off, giving everyone in the room a moment to absorb all of the information she’d dispensed.

“Now, as this is a spell that requires some strategy, I think it would be best if you all practiced this in pairs,” With another effortless wave of her wand, twelve tables appeared scattered around the room, each containing a goblet filled with vinegar. I wrinkled my nose up as the strong smell hit me. Ugh, that was gross. “Take turns making attempts, and make sure to share ideas as you have them. I’ll be roaming around, checking on everybody’s progress. Good luck everyone!”

With that, she clapped her hands, whipping the crowd of students into a frenzy once more as everyone searched for a partner. Without wasting a second, I whipped my head around trying to find someone, anyone, who would partner up with me. I wasn’t exactly _hated_ in this class (not by everyone, anyway), but I didn’t have too many BFFs either.

I turned to my immediate left just in time to see everyone within asking range partnering up with each other. Turning to my right produced the same result.

Groaning to myself, I watched with a desperate expression as the newly formed pairs all drifted to different tables, leaving me in the middle of the empty classroom with an increasingly thin pool of students.

I darted from person to person, getting rejected by each one. Cursing myself for being such an introvert all the damn time, I resigned myself to being stuck with the other least popular kid in the class.

I was expecting the worst, so imagine my surprise when I heard the melodious voice call out to me through the noise.

“Hey, Ebony?”

I turned around, and my jaw nearly dropped. It was Draco. Standing right in front of me.

I opened my mouth to respond, but my throat clamped down on the words before they could escape. “Uh...h-h-hi...Dr-Draco…” I managed to spit out.

He waited patiently for me to finish, and then nodded, gazing at me intently with his sharp green eyes. “Hi,” he repeated, “So, it looks like we’re the only two left. Would you like to partner up?”

My mind exploded.

I hesitated, running different possible outcomes of this partnership through my mind. Before too many bad scenarios could dawn on me, I shook them out of my head and went for it.

“Sure, that sounds great,” I sputtered, making some approximation of a normal smile.

“Awesome,” Draco replied with a nod. Turning away from me, he walked over to the only available table left in the room, which was right in the corner. After a few seconds of watching with wide eyes, I scuttled along after him.

When I got there, Draco was already staring at the goblet of vinegar with an analytical expression, like it was a riddle for him to crack. His mouth was pulled into a small frown and he was squinting.

I stared hungrily at him for a few brief seconds, before turning my own gaze to the glass. Around the classroom, I could hear the noises of my classmates making their first attempts at the complex spell.

“So…” Draco said, drawing my attention back to him, “Do you reckon you understand everything she said?”

“Uh...I’m not really sure,” I admitted with a nervous chuckle, “I always think I’ve got these things, but then I do them and they’re wrong.”

Those words made Draco’s frown curl up into a subtle smile. “Now _that’s_ relatable,” he said. Before I could wonder what this meant, his smile fell and he continued on with a more serious tone. “Well, I suppose one of us has to take the first step at some point. Would you like to, or should I?”

“Uh...you can try it…I’ll give it a go if you can’t get it...” I said meekly, not wanting to embarrass myself in front of him.

“Well ok then, but don’t get your hopes up,” he said with a smile and a wink.

Oh my Gods, I was going to _die_ . The wink was physically painful. Was he actually _flirting_ with me? Or was I just going fucking crazy with thirst?

I watched with a slack-jawed expression as Draco took a few steps closer to the goblet, adjusted his stance, and pointed his wand at it.

He said the spell. Nothing happened.

He said it again. Nothing happened again.

He said it a third time. The liquid bubbled for a few moments, and then nothing happened.

Frowning again, Draco stood up straight and shook his head. “Well, that doesn’t seem to be working. Maybe I’m not imagining it right or something,” he turned around back towards me, “Fancy giving it a go?”

I absolutely did not fancy giving it a go, but I knew I couldn’t back out. Not in a class like this, and especially not in front of him. So, I reluctantly nodded, and stepped forward towards the goblet.

I gazed at the vinegar it contained. It gazed menacingly back at me. ‘Go ahead, try it, I dare you,’ it said (metaphorically, of course, because vinegar doesn’t talk), ‘You know you’re going to fail. You’re going to fail, and everybody’s going to laugh at you. Draco’s going to see you fail and hate you forever. You’re going to be alone for the rest of your life and—’

“Shut up, you vinegar!” I shouted, cutting it off. Pointing my wand at it, I concentrated hard on all of the tiny little germs or whatever turning back through time, undoing all the changes they made to the wine. Keeping this image strong in my mind, I channeled all the magic power I could summon, and cast the spell.

I felt the satisfying rush of magic building up in my stomach, and then surging through my wand, like water being shot out of a hose. I could sense the invisible energy shooting towards the vinegar.

I beamed with pride. Yes! Yes! It was working! It was _working_!

But then, the energy hit its target, and I felt the familiar _pang_ of something going wrong in my stomach. All the energy flowing through me suddenly evaporated.

In front of me, vinegar in the goblet started to shift around. Except, rather than turn crimson like I was hoping, it began to freeze. In the blink of an eye, the entire cup was frozen solid, and still very much vinegar.

I stared down at my wand with a puzzled expression, and muttered to myself. “Gods-dammit. I thought I had it. What did I do wrong?”

“Well, at least you did _something_ ,” Draco said from behind me, “That’s a lot closer than I was.”

“Yeah, I guess,” I said, still staring down at my wand.

A few seconds passed, and Cherry finally approached us. This close up, I could finally see that the red brooch she had pinned to her shirt was a tiny rose. It looked nice on her.

“Ooh, that’s not quite right,” she said with a tiny laugh, “Which one of you did this?”

“It was her,” Draco said, gesturing to me. Turning up to face her, I nodded in confirmation.

“Well, it’s definitely a step in the right direction,” she continued in her usual rosy tone. Pulling out her wand, she tapped on the tip of the cup, and it instantly reverted back to its original form. “Remember what I said about power and precision. This isn’t about using a lot of energy, it’s about using it in exactly the right way. There’s definitely power here, but it’s too much, and aimed in the wrong direction.”

Cherry turned her glance back to me, and took me by the shoulders, turning me to face the goblet once more. “You need to have a very clear visualization in your mind,” she said from over my shoulder, “Imagine the clock turning back, and the little microorganisms in the vinegar becoming younger and younger until they blink out of existence. If you have this image clear enough in your mind, you need only the tiniest bit of power to trigger the spell.”

I nodded, gazing intently at the goblet and trying to mentally picture exactly what Cherry was describing, “Okay,” I murmured, “Imagine the clock turning back, I can do that.”

“Now, tightly hold that image in your mind, aim your wand at the liquid, and cast the spell once more.”

I pointed at the glass with my wand and imagined the tiny little bug-things in the vinegar aging backwards, getting smaller and smaller and smaller until they weren’t even there anymore. I imagined this happening over and over again in my mind, keeping it repeating in a loop. Once I was sure it was strong enough in my mind, I flicked my wand and cast the spell.

The rush of magic through me felt much stronger this time. The feeling of warmth bubbled up in my stomach and spread through me much quicker, surging towards my wand with much more confidence. The invisible rays my wand fired felt like lightning striking out at the cup and hitting it with just as much power.

The vinegar was still at first. But then it started to bubble. And then it _really_ started to bubble. The feelings of power flowed through me. This felt good. This felt _right_.

The bubbling and the feeling of power continued in perfect harmony. I could feel them working together. As the power increased, the vinegar continued to bubble, and bubble, and bubble. The power suddenly increased, and the vinegar started to shift around in the cup. It moved from one side to the other. I could feel it starting to change...

And then, abruptly, the feeling dissipated, and I was left with a goblet of unchanged vinegar.

My face fell, and my jaw dropped slightly. “What?” I murmured under my breath. “Why...why didn’t I…?”

“That was amazing!” Cherry cheered, “That’s the closest I’ve seen anyone get in a while. Very well done! Five points to Slytherin for sure!”

I smiled weakly, but couldn’t deny the disappointment descending over me. I couldn’t believe it. I’d been _so_ close.

“Keep at it! You’re making really good progress,” Cherry encouraged, patting me on the back, “And make sure to let Draco try more too. Again, excellent work!” With that, Cherry moved on to the next pair of students waiting for her.

“Wow, that was really impressive,” Draco said, raising an eyebrow at me. “You really almost did it.”

My heart started to flutter in my chest, distracting me from the heavy feelings that had been occupying it. I turned to look at him with a raised eyebrow. “You...you mean that…?” I asked shakily.

“Of course,” he replied with a smile.

Nobody in the class ended up casting the charm that day, though Cherry assured many of us that we came close.

“Seriously everybody, great job,” She said as she wrapped up the class, “We have a theory class next week, so your homework is to read chapter nine of the textbook. Come prepared with notes and questions. I’ll see you all then!”

I couldn’t keep the frustrated expression off of my face as I stuffed my wand back into my backpack and swung it around my shoulders. My disappointment in myself was like a dull ache. I kept imagining how cool I would have been if I’d actually performed the spell.

I had only taken a few steps from my desk when I heard someone approach me from behind and place a hand on my shoulder. Turning around, I was surprised by the sight of Draco’s face, smiling at me.

“Hi again,” He said casually, giving me a tiny smile, “Do you have a second? There was something I wanted to ask you.”

A warm, giddy feeling blossomed in my stomach, but I managed to keep a straight face. “Uh...sure, what is it?” I asked softly, tilting my head slightly to glance up at him.

“So, I’ve heard you like a lot of goth and punk bands and things like that, right?”

My heart skipped a beat. Where did he hear that? Where was he going with this? What was _happening_? I only nodded in response.

“Do you listen to Good Charlotte?”

“Uh...yeah, you could say that.”

His face lit up. “Cool,” he exclaimed, turning around and reaching into his bag. “Because they’re actually having a concert in Hogsmeade, and I was wondering…”

Oh my Gods.

Oh my _fucking_ Gods.

Was he…

Was he asking me out?

I smiled in disbelief. This was happening. This was actually _happening_ ! _Draco Fucking Malfoy was asking me out on a date!_ I couldn’t believe it! The stars had aligned. Everything I’d been hoping and dreaming of for years was finally combing to be! This was so...

“...if you wanted my ticket,” he finished, pulling a small ticket out of his bag and handing it to me. “I can’t go because I have a meeting with an Arithmancy tutor at the time, but I figured you could go in my place. It’s tomorrow night at seven. Does that work for you?”

In a flash, the warm feeling in my stomach became hollow and ice-cold. All my muscles clenched up, and my smile became fake. I blinked a few times, trying to catch up to what was happening.

I was quiet for a noticeably long time. Just as Draco was opening his mouth to ask me what was up, I took the ticket from him. “That works great for me! Thanks! I gotta get going to my next class now, but I’ll see you later!” I buzzed in the happiest voice I could muster. 

Before he could respond, I turned away from him and sped out of the classroom and down the hallway. As I retreated, I grit my teeth, set my face into a hard grimace, and tried desperately to ignore the pain I could feel bubbling up inside of me.

\---

I flopped down onto my bed and screamed. The pillow my face was buried in muffled most of the noise, but a sharp, animalistic growling could still be heard. Once my throat was exhausted, I petered out and switched to a more sustainable groaning noise.

“It’s okay, just let it all out,” Willow said in a comforting tone, patting me on the shoulder, “Just let all of the inside pain make its way out of you.”

I made several more beastly noises into the pillow before turning my head and looking up at her. Tears were running down my eyes, smudging my eyeliner. “I just don’t get it!” I shouted, rolling over on my bed and staring up at the ceiling. “What does he _want_ ?! What is he _thinking_?! He was sending me some really positive signals during the class, and in general he seems to like me, but he didn’t ask me out! Why didn’t he ask me out?” I wailed in a despairing voice.

Willow glanced around the dormitory to make sure we were all alone. It was still the time of evening when dinner usually happened, so all our other roommates were either eating or holed up in another room to do some studying.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay. I mean, maybe he does like you, and he’s just too nervous to ask you out?” She reasoned, “You don’t know that he doesn’t like you, he just didn’t ask you this one particular time. There are still plenty of other chances you’ll get to try to date him.”

“You mean that…?” I asked uncertainly, glancing over at her.

“Yes, of course,” She promised, wiping some tears off of my cheek, “And even if he never does, you could always ask him out yourself.”

The thought made me cringe with fear. “What? No, I can’t do that! What if he says no? I can’t run that risk! It would kill me!” I whined, staring at her incredulously. I shook my head. “No, there’s no point. It’s all over. I’m doomed! He’s friendzoned me! He’s fucking…” I buried my head back into the pillow and continued to cry.

I heard Willow sigh disapprovingly, but she remained by my side, comforting me with her touch.

I cried myself out after a few minutes, and ended up resting my head on Willow’s shoulder, hugging her close to me. Being the great friend she was, she held me just the way I wanted to be held, and lightly ran her hands through my hair. It was nice.

“Thanks Willow,” I whimpered softly, “I love you, you’re always here for me.”

“Hey, don’t worry about it,” she replied with a small smile, “So, do you think you’re going to go to the concert?”

I thought it over for a moment. “I don’t know,” I eventually replied, “I think it would be fun, but it feels weird going. You know, with the circumstances and stuff.”

“I think you should go,” Willow said in a motherly tone, “It’ll be a good way to get your mind off of things. You need a little ‘you’ time, remember how to enjoy things on your own.”

“Alright, I guess I’ll go,” I decided, “Again, thank you Willow, I owe you for this one.”

She laughed in response. “It’s fine. That’s what friends are for.”


	4. The Concert

On the night of the concert, I decided to have fun and get fully dressed up. I put on my favorite black leather dress (with a bunch of corset stuff on the front and back), and matching red fishnets on my legs and arms. To tie everything together, I wore my pair of black lace-up boots with heels, and made my hair look all spikey.

After downing a small glass of blood to get my strength up, I slipped out of the Slytherin dungeon and crept down the hallway to one of the shifting staircases. It wasn’t that I needed to sneak past anyone or anything like that, creeping was just a lot more fun than walking, and made me look mysterious and scary to all the preps I passed.

My destination was one of the corridors up on the third floor of the castle. That wasn’t a particularly suspicious place on its own, but I was still a little nervous, since I didn’t have an explanation thought up to give anyone who stopped and questioned me. Luckily, I made it there without such a thing happening. I guess security had better things to do on a Saturday night.

When I entered the corridor on the third floor, I still had quite a bit of creeping to do before I found what I was looking for. Luckily, the only source of light in the hallways were a series of flickering torches lining the walls, spaced out in a way that left plenty of shadows in between them. This gave me ample room to be dark and mysterious, cloaked by the shadows and glaring at other students as I passed by. It was very fun.

Eventually, after a few twists and turns down the labyrinthine hallways, I reached my target location. Positioned between two suits of armor was the statue of the One Eyed Witch. The statue depicted a truly ugly woman, hunched over and scowling as she leaned against a tiny wooden cane. The missing eye that gave her her name only added to the hideousness of the woman’s crooked face.

Stepping over to the woman, I rested my hand on her hunched back and muttered the password.

“Dissendium.”

Upon speaking the word, I felt a small amount of magic rush through my arms and into the statue, making a small creaking noise as it collided with the stone. I stepped away and watched as the statue shook in place, and then shifted to the left, revealing a small but distinct passageway hiding behind it.

Crouching down slightly, I stepped into the passageway and watched as the statue shifted back into place behind me, sealing me in darkness. Once it was completely covering the entrance behind me, I pulled my wand out of my sleeve, and whispered a spell under my breath.

“Lumos.”

The tip of my wand lit up like a flashlight, illuminating the entire passageway with a soft glow.

Now I was in business.

The passageway I’d entered was little more than a dirt tunnel, carved out of the earth a few hundred years ago. The tunnel was very narrow, with walls on either side only giving just enough room for people to pass through in a single file line. So although the tunnel was functional, it was very claustrophobic.

This particular passageway from Hogwarts to Hogsmeade wasn’t one of the fancy ones. It had been carved out a few hundred years ago, and hadn’t gotten much maintenance since then. Generally, students in the know about these things liked to avoid this one. However, I’d taken a particular liking to it, as it was the first one I discovered, and the one I was most familiar with. Its unpopularity also meant that I had it all to myself, which worked great for me.

The trip through the tunnel was straight forward, and took about twenty minutes in total, which gave me some time to think. As per Willow’s advice, I tried hard not to think of Draco, and instead focused on her comforting gestures and my excitement for the upcoming concert. Still, much like the compulsion to touch a physical injury, I couldn’t help but prod the emotional ache that Draco’s rejection had left every so often, as if to see whether or not it still existed.

When the time had finally passed, I reached the end of my journey. I turned around a corner and was greeted with the sight of a stepladder leading up to a heavy trapdoor.

I shook my wand to douse the light, and remained silent as I walked up to the trapdoor and gently pushed it open, just a crack at first to gaze around and then all the way when I saw the coast was clear.

The trap door opened up into the dark cellar of Honeydukes, a candy shop run by an old wizard named Ambrosius Flume. Since I only ever snuck through this passage after the store had closed, I’d only seen it as a cold, dark room filled with various supplies for the shop. Barrels and sacks filled with different ingredients lined the walls, some collecting dust, while others looked more recently used. The trap door was in a forgotten corner of the room, hidden behind a rotting wooden shelf that I was sure hadn’t been touched in decades.

Sneaking out from behind the shelf, I stepped into the small cellar, and walked over to the door, grabbing a handful of jelly beans from a half-open barrel as I did.

Oh fuck yes, they were caramel, my  _ favorite _ .

Munching on the sweet candies, I walked over to the cellar door at the edge of the room, and pushed it open. The door opened up to a small area around the back of Honeydukes. The tiny concrete alleyway was secluded from the rest of the village, making this cellar one of the less-risky entrances. After peeking around a wall to make sure I wasn’t seen, I snuck down the alley and ended up on Hogsmeade’s High Street.

If they existed, travel ads for Hogsmeade Village would probably describe it as a quaint, picturesque countryside village or something like that. It certainly did have that sort of vibe to it.

Hogsmeade had been established in medieval times, and the sense of history around it remained to this day. All of the shops that lined either side of High Street had a very old-timey feeling to them. Each of them were mostly made of either wood or stone, and had sharp, pointed roofs that were nearly identical with one another.

It was a Saturday night, so the cobblestone streets were bustling with activity. Other Hogwarts students ran up and down the sidewalks, passing each lit up shop window with a sense of curiosity in their eyes. Some burst out of shops carrying the newest knick-knack they’d bought for themselves, while others marveled at whatever their friends had bought. Multiple street-carts selling pastries were out and about, yelling at potential customers that passed them by.

This wasn’t my usual choice of hangout, but I couldn’t help but smile at the jolly atmosphere. There was a tangible energy in the air, and everywhere I went, I saw a face with a smile on it. I wished I had time to come here more often. This would be the perfect place to bring Willow and have fun one night. Or, the perfect place to go on a date with…

I silenced the thought before it could fully play out in my mind.

As tempting as it was to mingle around in some of the other shops open that night, I had a particular destination in mind.

Most of Hogsmeade was stuck in its glory days (not that there was anything wrong with that, of course), but there was one building in the village that had noticed the last few centuries going by.

Located right at the edge of the village, nudged as far away as possible from the other shops, was a lone building. It was one of the bigger buildings in the village, but the fact that it was so far away from everything else and so shrouded in shadows meant it was easy to overlook.

In order to get there, I needed to turn off of High Street and walk down a sidewalk with no lighting for about a minute or so. Eventually, once the rest of Hogsmeade was just a few specks of light over my shoulder, I reached the building.

From the outside, it wasn’t much to look at. It was a large concrete block covered in chipped purple paint, that had no windows. Right next to the building was a parking lot, which only ever held flying cars, as there were no concrete roads that led to it. Above the entrance, there was a blinking neon sign that displayed the building’s name in an ugly shade of purple.

This was the Shrieking Shack, the only live music venue in a 50 mile radius. It was crappy, but over the years I’d gained a certain attachment to its crappiness.

Despite the objective awfulness of the building and its location, there was a long line of people trailing from the entrance. It was mostly other goth kids like me, but there were a few young adults and adults there too.

I probably should have been annoyed by the size of the line, but just the feeling of being there, knowing I was about to see some live music was enough to make me giggle with excitement. This was just what I needed.

Luckily for me, the line moved fast. Within only a few minutes, I’d handed my ticket to the bouncer and was let into the dark club. I stepped through the door just as I was finishing off my last jelly bean.

The doorway led to a small, stuffy carpeted lobby. The room was filled with various young adults mingling around here and there, either talking with their friends, glancing at their phones, or just staring off into space. Some were dressed up in dark gothic clothing and makeup like I was, others were more casual. A few had lit up cigarettes or joints, which filled the room with heavy smoke.

Pushing through the room with little difficulty, I made my way to a pair of metal doors on the other side. Permitting myself to be a little dramatic, I threw them open and stepped into the main room of the venue.

The main room of the Shrieking Shack was a rectangle with a stage on one end and a bar on the other. In between those two was nothing but open space. It wasn’t quite full, yet, but it was rapidly filling up with people. I needed to hurry to find a place before it was too late. The stage was still empty, but, judging from the rising energy in the room, I had a feeling it wasn’t going to stay that way for long.

Pulling my wallet out of my pocket, I scuttled over to the bar, and quickly ordered a drink. The beer in these places usually sucked ass, but it was cheap and got the job done. With a filled clear plastic cup in hand, I slipped through the crowd and tried to get as close to the front as possible.

Once I’d found a spot that was suitable, I stopped and took root there. Sipping from my beer, I took one last glance around at the crowd, taking it all in. My eyes passed over many faces, all crowded tightly together. Many of them were young, either my age or slightly older, but I didn’t recognize any of them. It seemed like I was the only Hogwarts student there.

Or was I? Turning even more, my eyes fell on a face that prodded at something in my memory. There was a teenager standing just a few feet to my left who looked...very familiar.

He had a pale white face and a mop of spiky black hair with red streaks dyed into it. A pair of glasses was perched on his brutish face, and he was wearing a lot of make-up. Thick circles of mascara hung underneath his eyes, and his lips were covered with a (frankly immaculately done) layer of black lipstick. He also had the smallest hint of manly stubble on his chin.

He was dressed in a tight black turtleneck sweater that showed off a muscular body, and matching black jeans. A pair of spiked leather boots were on his feet, and he had a blood red chain necklace around his neck.

Intrigued, I took a few steps closer, and tapped him on the shoulder. He jumped with surprise, and whipped his head around to look at me.

“Hi!” I greeted with a small wave, “Do you happen to go to Hogwarts? Sorry, your face looks kind of familiar, but I can’t quite place it.”

The boy gave me a confused expression at first, but then a look of recognition appeared in his eyes and he smiled at me. “Oh yeah, you’re Tara, right?” He asked uncertainly.

“Uh...my name is actually Ebony,” I corrected with an awkward smile.

He blushed and looked away. “Oh...I’m sorry, my bad,” he sputtered.

“It’s fine. What’s your name?”

“It’s Harry Potter, though most people call me Vampire these days,” He replied.

I raised an eyebrow. “Really, why?”

“Because I love the taste of human blood,” He ended the sentence with a giggle, as if remembering an inside joke.

“Oh…That’s cool,” I said shakily. I hesitated for a few heartbeats, before confessing: “You know...I’m actually a vampire too.”

Now it was his turn to raise an eyebrow. “Really?”

Something about the look of puzzlement on his face brought a smile to mine. “Yeah!” I roared, more enthusiastically.

Vampire grinned widely, showing off some of his sharpened fangs. It looked like he was about to say something else, but before he could, an announcer’s voice sounded from the microphone on stage.

“Ladies and Gentlemen...Good Charlotte!”

The two of us turned to the stage just in time for the band to walk out. The entire venue filled with screams and cheers. The excitement reached a fever pitch as the drummer counted them in, and the opening chords of ‘The Chronicles of Life and Death’ played.

I chugged the rest of my beer and screamed with glee as as Joel Madden started to sing:

“ _ You come in cold, you're covered in blood _

_ They're all so happy you've arrived _

_ The doctor cuts your cord, hands you to your mom _

_ She sets you free into this life _ ”

(Disclaimer: I do not own the lyrics to this song. No copyright infringement intended.)

Gods, Joel was so fucking hot.

\---

The concert was an absolute blast. GC sang literally all my favorite songs from them. Over the course of their setlist, I drank quite a few beers, keeping a steady buzz going between my eyes. As the concert went on, I found myself getting more and more wild.

Vampire went through a similar transformation himself, gradually growing rowdier as the night progressed. When a mosh pit broke out, he jumped in along with me, bumping and grinding against everyone else in the audience. The two of us collided more than a few times, and I felt myself get closer to him each time.

When the concert ended, I stumbled out of the main room leaning on Vampire’s shoulder, laughing like we’d been friends for years.

“That was  _ awesome _ !” I yelled, swinging my arms around and throwing the two of us off balance. He laughed along with me, and kept a steady stance to stop us from toppling over.

“Wow, you really know how to party!” he said, giving me a wide, toothy smile. 

The look on his face brought a small fit of giggles out of me. “You could say that! You weren’t too bad yourself. Gods, I needed this so bad!” I threw my head back, and basked in the feeling of drunk, crazy happiness that was flourishing in my chest.

Holding me steady, Vampire led the two of us out of the lobby and into the night. The cold air hit me like a punch as we stepped out, making me cling tighter towards Vampire for warmth. Behind us, everyone else started to spill out as well, rapidly creating a crowd in front of the building. A sea of bodies flowed out in every direction.

I was so lost in my reverie that it took a few moments before I realized Vampire was taking us to the parking lot. Coming to my senses a little, I pulled back and glanced up at him.

“Uh...where are we going?”

Vampire smiled. “Well, since you’re too drunk to get yourself home alone, I was thinking I could drive you. Does that sound cool?”

I cocked an eyebrow and gave him a puzzled glance. I knew there were a lot of questions to ask here, but it was hard to fully identify them in my muddled mind. After stumbling over a few question starters, I finally spit out: “Are you even sober enough to drive?”

Vampire smirked and waved his hand to dismiss my concerns. “Trust me, I’ve driven through a lot worse than this.”

Before I could express just how little that thought comforted me, he gestured to a car in front of us. “Well, here it is.”

I glanced up and was met with the sight of a sleek, spotless black Mercedes-Benz. My jaw dropped, and I stared at it in disbelief. The car was so luxurious looking that it was difficult to believe it was even there. It looked so incongruent with the crappy parking lot and cheap cars that surrounded it. And yet there it was, looking like it had been bought yesterday. I kept blinking and rubbing my eyes, waiting for whatever trick of the light that made it look the way it did to go away, but it never did. This was a very, very real car. Its license plate number was ‘666.’

“What the fuck?!? This is  _ your _ car?” I asked in disbelief, stumbling away from him as he walked to the driver seat door. Casually, he fished a set of keys out of his pocket and unlocked the door, swinging it open. Jogging around to the other side, he opened the passenger side door and gestured for me to go in.

“Oh shit, it  _ is _ your car,” I whispered. I hesitated for a second after saying this, waiting for him to contradict me and reveal that this was all a big joke that I’d fallen for. 

But he never did. 

I took a few tiny steps forward, now staring at him. “Where did you  _ get _ this?” I asked, as I slid into the soft leather seat. The inside of the car was just as fancy looking as the outside. 

Vampire closed the door next to me, and then took his seat behind the wheel. The engine hummed softly as he ignited it.

He turned to look at me with a soft smile. “Are you ready?” His eyes darted across my chest and he squinted in concern. “You better put on a seat belt. It might be a bumpy ride.” The edge of his mouth cocked up into a smile at the end of that sentence. Was that a legitimate warning, or was he just showing off?

“Uh...sure,” I said, pulling the seat belt over my torso and clicking it next to me.

Once I had, Vampire’s smile got even wider. “Okay, hold on tight now.”

He reached behind the steering wheel and flicked a tiny switch, making something click in the engine. I wasn’t sure what it was at first, but as soon as he put his foot down on the gas pedal, it became clear.

Instead of going backwards, the car started to go up.

I gasped with surprise as we started floating up into the air, and pressed my face against the window to try to get a better view. It was a surreal feeling, seeing the ground sink down beneath us, watching the building and other cars get smaller and smaller. Turning my gaze up, I saw that the Benz was now surrounded by the velvety darkness of the night. 

“Wow,” I exhaled in awe, “Vampire! This is fucking amazing! How did you get this car?” I couldn’t keep the excitement out of my voice.

Vampire snickered from behind me. “You think this is good now? Just watch.”

And then he flicked another switch, and we started to go forward.

The view was absolutely amazing. The two of us were soaring through the night sky like it was nothing. I rolled my window down and stuck my head out, letting the air blow against my face and through my hair. I felt like an eagle, like I had all the freedom that came with a pair of wings, like gravity had lost all power over me.

It was a beautiful feeling, but it wasn’t meant to last. Soon enough, we were approaching the spiraling towers of Hogwarts Castle.

I pulled my head back in the car and rolled the window back up, before giving Vampire the biggest smiled I could muster. “Oh my God!” I screamed, “That was amazing! That was incredible! I can’t...I literally can’t...That was like...Just like…” I was at a loss for words.

Vampire grinned, but kept his eyes on the windshield. “I knew you’d like it. People always like it their first time. Though most of them don’t get nearly as excited as you just did.”

I blushed, and averted my gaze from him. “Uh...well...I mean...I’m a little drunk now...and it’s been an exciting night…”

“Hey, no, don’t get all self-conscious, I like it!” he reassured, “There are so many boring-ass preppy kids in Hogwarts, acting all high and mighty, and they’re all boring as fuck. It’s awesome meeting a girl like you who knows how to get wild and live a bit.”

My heart skipped a beat, and then started fluttering in my chest. “You...you hate preps too?” I could hardly believe my ears.

By this point, the car had stopped, and was slowly starting to descend into the Forbidden Forest. Once we touched the ground, he gave me his full attention for the first time that night.

“Of course I do,” he said, staring right into my eyes.

I was spellbound. His eyes were a bright emerald green. They were absolutely gorgeous. As I gazed at my reflection in them, I became acutely aware of how close together we were, and how tiny the inside of the car was, and how alone we were. The continued buzz from the alcohol, the adrenaline from the concert, and the excitement from the flight had all clouded out my better judgement. Thinking was near impossible, all I could do was feel.

And I was definitely feeling something. A warm, warm feeling was building up in my chest.

“Vampire,” I whimpered, leaning closer to him, “I...I...I want...I need…”

“Shhh…” He held his finger to my lips, “...just...be quiet for a second…” He whispered gently, “You don’t need to say a thing.”

And then he leaned in and kissed me.

Oh fuck, he was  _ kissing me _ . He was fucking  _ kissing me _ !

The surprise only lasted for a heartbeat. Deep down, I wasn’t really shocked by this. This had been building up since the two of us first laid eyes on each other earlier that night. This was just the logical conclusion to the two of us sharing this time together. It couldn’t have happened any other way.

I kissed him back. He roughly grabbed my chin and held me tightly. I unbuckled my seatbelt and crossed over to straddle him. We were pressed together so tightly in the driver’s seat, but it felt perfect. Our bodies fit together so well.

He wrapped his arms around my shoulders and hugged me towards him. We were so close that I could feel the warmth radiating off of his body. Our energy picked up, and we started frenching madly. I was in heaven.

Pulling his hands away from me, Vampire reached down to unbuckle his seat belt. He then reached behind me to open the car door and gave me a gentle push. The two of us drunkenly stumbled out of the car and into the cool night air of the forest.

I laughed and grabbed Vampire by the shoulders, roughly dragging him around and pinning him back against a nearby tree. I rubbed my entire body against his and started to keenly make out with him. The two of us were a tangle of limbs.

“I want…” I breathed in between kisses, “I want...I want you so bad…”

Vampire didn’t say a word, but his body said he agreed with me.

“I need you…” I continued, growing more and more breathless, “I...I love…”

A yelling voice came from behind us, shattering the silence of the night.

“WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING YOU MOTHERFUCKERS!!!!”

It was... _ Dumbledore _ !


	5. The Question

Willow’s jaw dropped, and tiny bits of cereal fell out of her mouth.

“ _ Dumbledore _ found you?!?” She exclaimed.

“Shut up, shut  _ up _ !” I waved my hands to silence her, glancing around the room to make sure no one had heard. Luckily, the Great Hall was filled with the usual cacophony of students chatting with each other over breakfast, so no one seemed to have noticed Willow’s outburst over the noise. I sighed with relief.

“Gods, why are you always so loud with these things?” I asked harshly, stabbing bits of my pancakes and shoving them into my mouth. “This is highly sensitive information.”

“Ok, ok, I’ll be quiet, I promise,” Willow replied. It was clear how excited this story was making her. A large smile had appeared on her face, she was bouncing lightly in her seat, and she had an utterly enthralled look on her face. “Tell me what happened next. Please! What did he do to you? Did he punish you? Did he just let you go? What did he say? Please Ebony, I gotta know!”

“Okay! Sheesh! Will you give me a second to actually tell you?” I fired back. I was starting to faintly regret sharing all of this with Willow, but it was clear I’d passed the point of no return a while back.

Once Willow had quieted herself down. I took a deep breath and continued. “Well, basically, he brought us back to the castle, yelling at us the whole time. He called us things like ‘ludicrous fools’ and ‘mediocre dunces’ and things like that. I think he had a headache or something, ‘cause he was really grumpy,” I trailed off for a moment, frowning at the memory, “He brought us into a room with Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall and the three of them started really going at us. They accused us of having sex in the Forbidden Forest,  _ which we didn’t, _ ” I quickly added based on Willow’s shocked reaction. “And they also got really mad at Vampire for having a car on campus and flying around the towers. They said it was against school regulations or something. So he’s going to get in even more trouble because of that. After shouting at us for a bit, they just took away a bunch of house points and sent us back to our rooms. That was it for the night.”

“That’s it?” Willow asked with a skeptical expression. “You just went straight to bed? Didn’t Vampire sneak out to give you one last kiss goodnight? Maybe sing you a song or something to let you know everything’s alright?”

I cocked an eyebrow. “Uh... _ no _ ? Why would he do that? We were in enough trouble as it was. Plus, I was drunk and tired, and I just wanted to go to sleep. This isn't some fanfiction or anything.”

“Yes it  _ is _ ,” Willow banged her fists on the table to emphasize that last word, “Ebony, you don’t understand, this is  _ literally _ the stuff that legendary fics are made out of.”

I shook my head and turned back to my food, “You’re incorrigible, Willow.”

Willow snorted, mirroring my expression back at me before continuing her interrogation. “So, tell me about this new guy. You said his name is Vampire, right? That’s an interesting name.”

I nodded. “Uh...yeah...well, actually, his name is Harry, but he goes by Vampire.”

“Ooh, a nickname,” she cooed, “He seems like a character. So what’s he like?”

“Well…” I blushed and averted my eyes from hers, “He’s pretty wild and likes to party. He got  _ so _ into it in the mosh pits. He’s kind of a show off…” I smiled lightly as I said that, “He’s pretty...er...passionate too. Uh...he’s got a lot of hair, I guess, vampire fangs...uh...a pentagram thing on his head. That’s all that really comes to mind.”

Willow seemed very pleased by this information. “So he’s a certified bad boy, is what you’re telling me?”

I pondered that idea while I finished up my pancakes. “I guess you could say that. Or something close at least.”

“Is he a goth too?”

“Oh yeah, he definitely is,” I said weakly, hoping I wasn’t blushing.

Willow’s expression confirmed my worst fears had come true. Gods, I hated how smug she could be sometimes. I probably looked like a tomato.

Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse, the dreaded question finally came out of Willow’s lips. With an almost devious look in her eyes, she leaned forward and asked: “So, do you  _ like _ him? Like...more than Draco?”

I thanked the Gods as I saw other students start to rise from their seats to head for their classes. Taking advantage of the opportunity, I grabbed my backpack and dishes, raced to my feet, and headed to the other end of the hall to drop them off without so much as a ‘goodbye’ to her. As soon as my plates were in place, I darted for the corridor as fast as my legs would carry me.

I must have been too distracted by my thoughts to see where I was going because before I could make it to the door, a person materialized in front of me, sending me crashing to the ground.

This did not bode well with my already souring mood. Rapidly growing frustrated, I blurted out in anger: “Bastard! Watch where you’re…”

As soon as I opened my eyes and saw who I’d bumped into, the words died on my tongue.

It was Draco. Fucking  _ of course _ it was Draco. And I’d hit him hard enough to knock him to the floor. Squeaking with regret, I hopped up and scurried over to him.

“Oh shit Draco, I’m sorry. I’m so fucking sorry. I wasn’t looking where I was going, that was completely my fault, I couldn’t…” I continued to babble nervously as I took his hand and pulled him up.

“Woah, woah, woah, you’re fine, don’t worry, it’s good,” he said with a smile and a slightly shaken expression as he finally regained his balance. “You looked like you were in a rush there,” he remarked as he brushed his robes off.

“Uh...I guess...n-not really. Just not looking where I was going…” Part of me wanted to just dash away again, but Draco had a certain gravity to him that trapped me in place.

“So, where are you headed?” Draco asked.

“Uh...Al-alchemy…” I sputtered.

“Oh great,” he said, as a smile appeared on his glowing face, “I’m headed in the same direction. We can go together.”

What was I supposed to do? Say  _ no _ to that? 

“By the way,” Draco said as we weaved our way through the forest of students, “I’ve been meaning to ask you, how was the concert?” He turned his emerald eyes on me, giving me his undivided attention.

“The concert?” I dumbly repeated, “Oh...it was...uh...it was pretty fun…” I grinned slightly to illustrate, “A bit of Me-Time is just what I needed after…” My eyes widened, and I caught myself before I could finish that sentence. “...uh...s-school and shit, you know?”

Draco nodded, seemingly not noticing my hesitation. Well, either that or he was used to me pausing and trailing off. That was more likely. “Yeah, I feel that. I can’t wait for the semester to be over. All this working really gets to you after a while. I’m exhausted.”

I nodded, biting down on my lip as I stared at his crystal-like complexion. Even with a topic as mundane as this, it was so easy to get lost in his words. He just had that kind of voice.

“I feel like a concert is what I really need too,” he continued, “Well, maybe next time I’ll be able to go. We could even go together or something.”

My brows furrowed and my heart skipped a beat. Ok, this was getting way too fucking confusing for me.  _ What the fuck was he saying? _

“Well, this is my stop,” Draco said, cutting through my thoughts before I could respond. Blinking, I peeked over my shoulder to see that we were standing in front of a classroom door.

“Oh...right...uh...bye…” I said with a tiny wave.

“It was nice talking to you. See you around,” Draco said, waving back at me. Then, without a second look, he vanished into his class.

Clenching up, I started speed-walking down the hallway, feeling a snarl building on my face.

Why did everything have to be so goddamn  _ complicated _ ??!?!?!

\---

The following day was the most routine bullshit day it could have possibly been, so I’ll spare you the details. All you need to know is that every class was boring, and I ended the day off with a whole bunch of homework to do. 

Ah, the joys of learning.

The share-worthy portion of the day resumed in the evening, when I was scheduled to meet with Britney to practice for Divination.

The entrance to the Hogwarts Library was at the end of the Library Corridor on the first floor (These names were never not funny, I swear). It was only around five o’clock, but this was winter in England, so the sun had set hours ago. The mounted torches illuminated the halls with an orange glow, and draped everything in a cloak of shadows. It could be a little difficult to see where you were going at certain points, but the warmth of the torches was a nice relief from the cold weather outside. It gave the hallways a certain coziness that they didn’t normally have.

After my little fiasco that morning, I made sure to pay attention to where I was walking, which provided a nice distraction from the conflicted feelings brewing in me. You can best believe that Willow’s question had crept into my mind at every chance it could, and it had taken all my efforts to push it out before I accidentally thought of an answer. I just couldn’t afford to go down that trail of thought, it wouldn’t take me anywhere pleasant. Normally, I would be furious at a meeting like this, eating into my free time. But now it was a welcomed diversion.

When I turned around the last corner and arrived at the entrance to the library, Britney was waiting for me, staring into space with a thoughtful expression. The orange light from the torches made the red parts of her Gryffindor robe glow softly like dying embers.

As I approached her, she looked up at me, and the usual smile popped back onto her face.

“Hi there Ebony! I’m so glad you could make it,” She greeted, holding out her hand.

“Hey, I guess,” I replied, taking her hand. My handshake wasn’t very enthusiastic, but I didn’t think she noticed. “Uh...how are you?”

To very little surprise, her smile grew and she replied: “I’m doing great! How are you? Isn’t the castle so spooky during the winter? I bet it’s totally your thing!”

It honestly was my thing, but there was no way I was going to give her the satisfaction of correctly guessing that, so I simply shrugged in response. “Shall we?” I asked, gesturing to the library.

“Of course!”

The first word that comes to mind to describe the Hogwarts Library is ‘cavernous.’ It was like a cave, not only in its size and seclusion but also in its chaotic nature. With how randomly everything was placed, it felt more like something that had formed gradually on its own rather than a deliberately designed, man-made structure.

Walking in through the mouth led us into the main room of the library. Aside from the desk where the current librarian on duty sat at guard, the room’s only feature was the numerous bookshelves it held. There must have been fifty of them, and they were all about a hundred feet tall and packed to the brim with books. A few tables were stationed in the isles between shelves, each hosting a cluster of three or four studying students. Next to the door was the desk where the librarian on duty kept diligent watch over any student she could get her eyes on. I’d heard a lot of bad things about what some of the librarians here did to noisy students, but I’d never seen them for myself.

Making sure to keep absolute silence, Britney gestured for me to follow and started walking down the room. I guessed she had a particular place in mind to study at.

As quietly as we could, the two of us snuck to the far right corner of the room, passing numerous doors embedded in the wall (and one in a shelf) as we did. When we made it to the door on the far corner, Britney pushed it open and the two of us entered a scaled down version of the main room. It was also lined with shelves, but these ones were at a much more reasonable height. More tables were stationed in between these shelves, and the walls were lined with doors that led to more rooms with more shelves, more tables, and even more doors that led to even more rooms ad infinitum. As with all things in Hogwarts, it was unnecessarily maze-like and easy to get lost in if you didn’t know where you were going.

Having been students here for six and a half years, Britney and I did know where we were going. As we stepped through another door and entered another tiny room, I noticed that we were entering the section of the library dedicated to potions (or, at least, one of the many sections dedicated to potions).

“Oh yeah, I’m sorry, I forgot to tell you,” Britney said when I asked her about this, “I was thinking we could join my friends, who are studying for their potions N.E.W.T. One of them is a total whiz at Divination, and I think she could really help us if we get stuck on anything. Is that okay with you?”

She stopped us in the frame of one of the doors, and looked at me for my answer. The sincerity in her expression was somewhat undermined by the fact that she was only asking me if I wanted to meet these people a few moments before we actually did. They were probably waiting in the room right next to us.

My lips tightened and my brow furrowed, but I managed to otherwise contain my frustration. As I ruminated on the idea, I allowed some annoyance to leak out of my eyes and onto her. I didn’t want to argue, but I wasn’t at all happy about this. I’d been mentally prepared to deal with one person, not three.

But what could I do? Leave and bail on the whole thing? Make us move to a different spot? Completely derail this whole thing because of an illogical need to avoid people I hadn’t even met? No, I was trapped here, and I knew it.

“Sure,” I huffed, pushing the frustration deep down inside of me. “It’s fine.”

Britney grinned widely. “Oh, I’m so glad to hear that. Thanks Ebony! You’re the best! I promise you’ll love them.”

Then, without warning, she stepped in close and pulled me into a very tight hug. My entire body went stiff at the unexpected physical contact, and I became as petrified as if I’d looked at a basilisk. Shivers went down my spine, and goosebumps flared up on my skin.

I  _ hated _ this.

I sucked up as much air as I could when Britney finally let me go. Remaining completely oblivious to my utter discomfort, she grabbed my wrist and yanked me into the room.

“C’mon! I can’t wait to introduce you!”

Much like an enthusiastic child dragging their parents to go see something, Britney roughly zig-zagged us through the room until we arrived at a table wedged between a pair of bookshelves.

Two individuals were seated at this table, one boy and one girl.

Despite his neutral expression, the boy had a distinctly timid air around him. His sharp, pale face was the color of mayonnaise, and remained pointed down at the table as he glanced up at me. His silky, shoulder length hair was a very muted brown, and his small eyes were the color of smoke. He was slumped forward on the table, hunched over the open notebook set in front of him. It was like he wished he wasn’t here so strongly that he was starting to will his body out of existence, slowly dissolving himself into the air (which was honestly pretty relatable). I definitely would have pegged him as a Hufflepuff (most cowards usually ended up in that house), but the bright blue lining on his robes indicated he was actually Ravenclaw.

In contrast, the girl was an absolute lioness. She had a look of unbreakable confidence in her eyes and sat in her chair the way a queen sits on a throne. Her flowing golden hair was like a crown on her head, completing this image. As I stepped close to the table, her eyes were pinned to me, scrutinizing every little detail. I felt like I was being held underneath a microscope. As she looked at me, a small smile appeared on her face. I couldn’t tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing. Everything about her demeanor suggested that she was the kind of girl who was always two steps ahead of you, and was waiting for you to catch up. She was also a Ravenclaw.

These two were  _ way _ shiftier than I would expect friends of Britney’s to be.

“Yay! I’m so glad we’re all finally together!” Britney squeaked, clapping her hands with joy. “Ebony, I’d like you to meet Magnus,” she gestured to the boy, “and Chantal,” she gestured to the girl. Turning to address them, she gestured to me. “Guys, this is Ebony. My friend from Divination.”

“Uh...hi!” I said, giving an awkward wave as I did. “Nice to meet you, I guess.”

“Charmed,” Chantal replied. She was only like seventeen or eighteen, but her voice had the steadiness of a grown woman’s. “It’s nice to finally meet you. Britney’s told us quite a lot about you.”

“Well…I mean...she tells us a lot about everyone, to be fair,” Magnus cut in, quickly giving Chantal a glare like she’d said something she shouldn’t have.

“That is true,” Chantal said back, not missing a beat, “Though the things she’s said about Ebony have always made her stand out from the rest in my eyes.”

Watching this exchange play out, I took a seat, pulled my books out of my bag, and set them on the table in front of me. Next to me, Britney did the same.

“Ok, can we try to go, like, five seconds without being all creepy and mysterious?” Magnus asked, briefly shooting me ‘can you believe this?’ kind of look. This brought a snicker out of me. I got the sense that I was witnessing a very familiar exchange between these two.

“No promises,” Chantal replied, finally taking her eyes off of me to glance at Magnus.

He almost instantly averted his eyes, not able to take the intensity of her gaze. “Look, all I’m saying is that maybe expanding this circle of ours would be a little easier if you weren’t actively trying to scare every new person away.” Sensing that this topic was getting old, Magnus addressed me.

“So, you’re taking Divination?”

“Oh, yeah, that’s right,” I said, suddenly remembering what I was doing. My eyes darted down to my notebook and I opened it up to the last series of notes I’d taken. The pages I turned to were littered with scribbles about the Pensieve and the Time Turners.

“Huh, that’s impressive,” Magnus said, raising his eyebrows, “I could never do Divination. I can barely do normal magic. Something as abstract as Divination? Pssh, forget about it.” He waved his hand playfully at the end of the sentence to illustrate.

“Yeah, it’s pretty tough,” I admitted with a small smile, “I just took it because all the other options looked more difficult. I could never do anything like Arithmancy, or whatever it is.”

“You know what? That’s fair,” Magnus agreed.

After giving my notes a quick look over, I turned my head to Britney. “We should probably get started then. Do you want to...I don’t know...quiz each other or something?”

“That’s a great idea! I think I just need to go over a few things one more time. Make sure they’re fresh in my mind.”

“Uh...sure,” I said, also glancing down at my stuff to do the same. As I reviewed what little I’d written about the space-time continuum, I noticed Magnus getting up and walking over to a bookshelf out of the corner of my eye.

“So, you two are doing potions work, right?” I asked when he got back.

Magnus opened his mouth to answer, but Chantal spoke before he could. “Yes, that’s right. Our N.E.W.T. isn’t for a while, but I figured this was as good a time as any to get reviewing. You know how these things can sneak up on you,” She made a mysterious smile as she said that last part.

“Uh...I think you mean  _ we _ decided  _ mutually _ that this was a good time,” Magnus corrected, sounding slightly offended.

Again, Chantal didn’t budge at all. “No, I didn’t,” she replied plainly, turning back to her notes.

What was this girl’s deal? I wasn’t sure if I should be amused or terrified of her.

“Okay, I’m ready,” Britney said, closing her notebook and turning to me. “Do you want to ask or answer questions first?”

The two of us went back and forth for a bit, tossing questions and answers back like an intellectual tennis match. I had a little trouble remembering things like the disadvantages of Time Turners and everything about space-time, but Britney had pretty much everything down. Or at least, that’s what I’d thought.

“What kinds of behaviors does Myomancy specifically observe?” I asked, reading from my notes.

Britney puckered her lips up in thought for a second, before a lightbulb went on over her head. “Myomancy finds omens in phenomena like rats suddenly being more destructive than usual, as well as specific rat cries. Rats wreck more havoc when something bad is about to happen, and their cries during such incidents can be used to determine exactly what kind of awful thing is on the horizon.”

I double checked my notes, and then nodded. “That’s great, you got it all right,” I muttered as I turned the page. “Now, what is…”

“Actually,” Chantal cut it, drawing attention from both of us. I hadn’t realized she’d been listening in, “That’s  _ almost _ right. In the field of Myomancy, rats being destructive is an omen of change, not necessarily good or bad. Their cries can hint at the more specific nature of that change.”

“Oh…” I trailed off, having been taken by surprise. With a furrowed brow, I looked back over my notes, seeing if they matched what she’d said. “I guess my notes are wrong,” I eventually muttered.

“Don’t worry, Myomancy is a very subtle and nuanced form of fortune-telling,” she reassured me, “Even the best take a while to fully understand it.”

Britney giggled and gestured at Chantal’s confident expression. “See? I told you, total whiz kid.”

The two of us continued to go down the list of important terms for the class, questioning each other on their meaning and significance. After every round, each of us would take note of the terms we’d had some trouble on and vow to look over them some more in the future. We both did reasonably well, but Chantal had to chime in every so often to give us some guidance. Britney hadn’t been lying, she  _ did  _ know  _ a  _ lot about Divination.

After an hour or so of this, I thought we’d done enough. I had a whole page of terms that needed more reviewing, but I felt like I generally had a good grasp of the important stuff for the class.

“Well, I think that does it for tonight,” I said, setting my book down, “I have a few other things to work on tonight, so I think I should get going. Thanks for all the help Britney, I really—”

“Hold on,” Britney interrupted, taking one last look at her notes, “We’ve only done hypothetical stuff. We haven’t looked over anything practical.”

I paused, and glanced at her with a raised eyebrow. “Uh...yeah…” I answered, wondering why she was pointing out something so obvious, “Practical stuff for Divination requires tools like a Time Turner or a Pensieve. What can we do without them?”

“We could try one of the vision spells,” she suggested with a shrug.

“Vision spells?” I repeated skeptically, “Is Professor Everywhere really going to put those on the N.E.W.T.? Everything in those spells happens in the caster’s head. How would she even mark those?”

“I don’t know, she  _ might _ ,” Britney said, sounding defensive, “Wouldn’t it help just to prepare in case? It’s not like they’ll take too long. Plus, she told us to review everything.”

She looked to Chantal, who immediately supported her. “Visions spells do tend to show up on Divination Tests. They’re assessed based on the technique used while casting them, not so much what the student actually ends up seeing.”

“Yeah, she’s right...uh...that...that is true,” Magnus added, glancing between me and her while nodding.

This threw me for a loop. “I thought you didn’t know anything about Divination.”

“I...uh...well…” Magnus looked like an actor on stage who’d forgotten his line, “That is true, I don’t,” he admitted, pointing at me with a very nervous smile, “But...but I...uh…”

Chantal shot him another glare before speaking for him, “His older brother took it and told him about it,” She explained for him, “He’s just a forgetful dumbass.”

“Right!” Magnus exclaimed, a lightbulb going on behind his eyes. “That’s right...my...brother took it,” he said with a nervous giggle, “Yes...that’s...it's true, I’m a...a  _ very _ forgetful dumbass,” his smile fell, and he adopted a somewhat sullen tone as he finished that sentence.

What the  _ fuck _ was going on? Was this some continuation of an argument they’d had that I didn’t know about? Was there some kind of conspiracy going on between them that I wasn’t aware of? I felt  _ so _ lost.

“Alright, alright, sheesh! I’ll do it, I’ll do it!” I said, throwing my hands up and raising my voice slightly to quiet everyone down. “I don’t know why you’re all acting so weird about it, but I’ll do it. Just stop…” I gestured at the three of them, “...whatever the hell this is.”

Magnus audibly sighed with relief and wiped a drop of sweat from his brow. Chantal also seemed strangely mollified, though she did a much better job at hiding it.

“Great!” Britney chirped. Pulling her textbook out of her bag and dropping it on the table. As she flipped to the right page, I shot one last look at her two odd friends. Chantal had already returned to her own notes as if she’d completely forgotten the strange interaction. Magnus, on the other hand, was staring into space with a preoccupied expression. The look in his eyes walked the line between fear and shame. Although the two friends were facing in completely different directions, I sensed a strange tension between them.

“Alright, here we are,” Britney said, pushing her textbook towards me and pointing to a heading at the top of the page that read ‘Basic Vision Spell.’ “This looks like a good one to start with. Want to give it a try?”

“Sure,” I replied flatly, “If you insist.”

After digging my wand up out of my bag, I leaned in and started to read from the paragraph in the textbook, nodding in interest as I did. When I finished it, a tiny smile appeared on the edge of my lips.

“Okay, this actually does seem pretty easy,” I said as I pulled back, and mentally prepared to cast the spell. “The vision is usually pretty vague, so the spell is pretty low stakes. It doesn’t require a whole lot of power, and there’s not a lot of room for anything to go wrong. I can totally do this!”

I sat up straight in my seat, and held up my wand, readying myself. “Okay, can you read me the instructions?”

“Sure!” Britney answered, turning the textbook back around to read from it. “First of all, you need to close your eyes.”

I did so.

“Now, try to figure out what you want to see. What specifically do you want to see the future of? How far into the future do you want to see? Things like that. Think of it as a question that the spell will answer,” Britney read each word of the description very carefully, making sure to clearly enunciate each word, “Let me know when you’ve thought of something.”

What did I want to see? I didn’t have an immediate answer to that. I didn’t have any urgent, burning questions about the future just ready to go.

...Or did I? The more I considered it, the more I realized there was one question that could fit that criteria. A question that was unfortunately creeping back now that I had cleared my mind.

Did I have a future with Draco?

No, I thought to myself, that’s a really bad idea for a question. But would it really hurt…?  _ No _ , this was ludicrously irresponsible. But I couldn’t think of anything else. Plus, this was something I’d be able to clearly picture in my mind.

Ugh… _ fine _ , you win this one, Me.

“Uh...Ebony? Are you—”

“Yeah, ok, I’ve thought of something,” I said, cutting her off. “What next?”

I heard the sound of a page being turned. “Ok, now all you need to do is keep focusing on this idea, and picture it floating out of your mind and into the air in front of you. As you do, cast the spell, and you should get a vision. Does that sound easy enough?”

“Sure, just give me a minute,” I said, continuing to concentrate on the image. Just as I’d been guided, I mentally clumped the idea of Me and Draco together into a little ball and imagined it floating higher and higher, eventually leaving my mind and entering the air. Once it reached that point, I waved my wand and spoke the spell.

I felt a warm rush of magic appear in my stomach, before slowly rising up through my body. It flowed through my chest, then my throat, and finally into my brain.

“Hey, Britney, I think it’s working,” I muttered, “I can feel something happening, I can feel…”

All of a sudden, I felt another rush, and the floor disappeared from underneath my feet.

My eyes flew open, and I saw that the entire library had vanished. At first, it was just an inky black void, but things gradually started to light up, revealing a scene in front of me.

I was staring down at a dark room that was little more than a concrete box. It was completely empty, and nearly entirely featureless. The only source of lighting was a single gas lamp dangling from a thin chain attached to the ceiling. The only way in or out was through a thick metal door embedded in the wall. It was a prison cell.

The handle to the door turned itself with a loud creaking noise, allowing some noise to come through.

“Wait, what’s going on? Where are you taking me? Where is this?” A voice cried out.

There was some shifting around, and then someone was tossed roughly into the cell. I gasped. It was Draco!

He looked absolutely terrified. His robes were dirty and torn in some places, his hair was all messed up, and he had a bleeding gash on his forehead. He hopped up from the ground and tried to charge towards the entrance, but he was effortlessly pushed back by his captor, who was still in the doorframe. From the angle I was looking from, I couldn’t make out any details beyond a vague silhouette. When the figure spoke, their voice was so distorted that I could barely make out the words.

“You’re staying here for the time being,” they screeched, “I’ll come back for you when I need you. You’re not going out of here, so don’t try anything.”

Then, without another word, they turned around and left, slamming the door shut behind them and leaving Draco all alone.

“Ebony!” I heard a faint voice cry, “Ebony! Are you okay?! Speak to me! Ebony!”

My eyes flew open, and I was greeted with the sight of Britney, Chantal, and Magnus all looking down at me. I realized after a second that I was laying on the library room floor.

Britney lightly slapped my cheek. “Hey, hey, are you okay? Can you hear me? Ebony!” Her slaps gained more strength as she grew more anxious.

“Britney, Britney, it’s okay! I’m fine…” I reassured her, holding up my hand to block her slapping. Shaking my head, I gestured for everyone to give me some space, and then sat up. “What...what happened?”

Britney and Magnus both sputtered half-panicked, unintelligible explanations for a few seconds before Chantal quieted them both, and spoke with that flawless confidence of hers.

“When you cast the spell, your eyes rolled up and you fell to the floor and started convulsing. We thought you were having a seizure,” she explained, “Am I correct in assuming you had a lucid vision?”

“Yeah…” I said weakly, “You could call it that.”

Feeling dizzy, I stumbled to my feet and started to shove my things into my bag. “I...think I need to go to the Hospital Wing,” Britney rushed to help me, but I stopped her. “It’s fine, I’m fine, I can go alone...I just...need to go…” I smiled at her to reassure her, “See you tomorrow.”

“Uh...yeah...see you,” she said nervously.

Before she could say anything else, I turned away, and stumbled out of the library.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey everyone, hope you all enjoyed. This is all I have written for the time being, so this story is going to go on pause for a bit. Please let me know if you'd like to see more. I promise I do listen to these comments.


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